Moonlight Calls (Demon's Call Series Book 1) (26 page)

I stepped away
and reached for the lid of the pot nearest me, only to have my hand swatted
away.  “I’ve seen your cooking,” he said in reprimand.  “Leave it be.”

I made a face at
him and went to the fridge to get a soda, noting that he had even made the
pasta by hand.  He turned to me and I looked him up and down as if evaluating
him as I opened my drink.  “Well, he’s one huge, scary piece of work,” I said
considering, “but if he can cook, I think he just
might
be a keeper.”

He made a face
and shooed me away as he turned to wash the massive pile of dishes.  At least
my horrid cooking didn’t require a hundred different pots and pans and bowls. 
I laughed softly to myself at the picture of my hulking werewolf doing dishes. 
I went out to the patio, making my way to a conveniently placed beach chair.

I let my robe
fall to the floor before slipping on my sunglasses and collapsing into the
chair.  Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts wander and soaked up the sun. Today
was my meeting with the wolf tutor, hence Christian’s rather overwhelming
presence.  Ailis had apparently left early this morning, giving Christian
strict instructions not to get me killed while she was gone.  She would be
staying at the coven house for a day or two, leaving me in Christian’s ever so
capable hands.  I sighed in pleasure at the thought.

I made a face as
I brought my wandering thoughts back to my meeting with the wolf tutor.  This
was bound to be unpleasant.  Henry had chosen my wolf teacher- Christian’s alpha
female, Camilla.  The Father Alpha was probably laughing his ass off this very
second, thinking of his son having to watch his number one bitch tear his new
human lover apart.  This was going to be so awkward, on so many levels.  It was
bound to be mentally and physically exhausting- not to mention the eminent
threat of death.  I really wasn’t up to that sort of abuse two days in a row.

Christian joined
me a little while later and we spent the rest of the day lounging around the
house.  After our last frolic on the patio had left me exhausted, boneless, and
glowing, I went inside to get dressed and get ready for the arrival of my
second tutor.  I threw on some sweats and a sports bra, since Christian had
warned me this would be physical, and stuffed my frizzy hair into a bun. I
emerged to find Christian outside, talking to a stunning red-head dressed in a
tank top and khaki shorts that showed off her long legs and willowy body. 

I sighed in
resignation.  Of course she was gorgeous.  She was Christian’s alpha female. I
wanted to go somewhere and hide.  I joined them with dragging feet and
Christian introduced Camilla, an honored member of the father Alpha’s pack.  He
left us to get down to business as he went inside to tend to dinner.  He
paused, dropping a soft kiss on my forehead before going inside.  I turned to
Camilla to find her watching me with a snide look on her perfect face.  She had
a bone structure that a super model would die for with high cheekbones and big,
luminous brown eyes.

“You realize he
is way out of your league, don’t you?” she said waspishly.

Normally I would
have been offended, but Christian had prepared me earlier in the day.  He had
instructed me that no matter whom I was dealing with in the wolf world, if I
wanted to be in control I had to play the game.  I had to be the alpha bitch. 
He had explained to me that women in were society drew their social standing
from their mates.  Therefore, I was to be viewed as a dominant, theoretically
equal to Camilla.  However, since I was a human other wolves would constantly
test me, looking for weakness.  I wasn’t really a fan of mind games, but I
didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter.

I squared my
shoulders and looked her in the eyes, staring her down.  “I am in a league all
my own.”  I said nastily, my eyes never wavering.  I really had no idea what I
was doing.  I sincerely hoped I wasn’t about to see her wolf.  I continued to
glare at her and her eyes slowly slid from mine.  I was amazed that it had
actually worked.  She was looking at the ground.  When she spoke to me she
looked carefully at my shoulder or glanced at my face and away, careful not to
meet my eyes.

“We have work to
do,” she said shortly, clearly angry at having given me this concession.  She
explained that Christian had spoken with her about what he believed I needed to
know.  The father Alpha wanted Camilla to teach me ways to take down vampires,
but she would also be showing me how to handle wolves.  I wondered briefly just
how this would help with my powers, but it all became very clear when I heard
Camilla’s voice in my head without ever seeing her lips move.

“I am going to
teach you to use your psychic abilities to your advantage,” she said in my
thoughts.  “First on wolves, then on blood suckers.”  I jerked back and glanced
at her in question.

“I am not
psychic,” I said out loud, wondering what she was up to.  She just shook her
head at the dumb human and began to undress, her glorious body glowing in the
afternoon sun. I realized rather quickly what she was doing, and backed up a
pace, falling automatically into my fighting stance.  Ailis would be so proud
that I had used her techniques before I was ripped apart.

Camilla smiled
wickedly and tossed her long red hair before her slender, supple body shimmered
and was replaced by a large red-brown wolf.  The eyes were the same, a bright
hazel brown with golden flecks.  I forced myself to stay put.  Backing away or
running would only show fear and make her that much more determined to hurt me.

She circled me
slowly, pacing in a graceful arc without ever taking her eyes off me.  I tried
to keep her in my line of sight.  My heart was starting to hammer in my chest. 
I was so dead. There was no way Christian would make it out here before she
went for the throat.  Suddenly she lunged at me.  I felt it coming and hit the
ground, attempting to roll out of the way.  I was too slow by far and she
slammed into me, biting my forearm sharply before lunging away to pace around
me again.

She repeated
this behavior again and again and I slowly realized that she was testing me. 
Finally she paused in her attacks.  She stopped pacing and stood looking up at
me.  I heard her voice in my mind again.

“Close your
eyes,” she commanded.  I raised an eyebrow at her.  My entire body hurt and I could
already see bruises blooming beneath the skin on my arms.

“Go to hell,” I
said succinctly.  She growled and all but shouted in my head.

 “Stop being
such a stupid human cunt!  Close your eyes and try to
sense
me.”

I resisted the
urge to tell her to go fuck herself and squeezed my eyes shut.  This was
followed my more circling and attacking, leaving me badly bruised and scraped,
and beyond bitchy.  Finally, she stopped circling me and I opened my eyes to
find her standing before me in human form, pulling on her shorts and top.

“Mind explaining
that to me?”  I asked bitchily.  She raised her gaze to mine briefly before
looking away.  Apparently, I was still the dominant one here, even though I had
allowed her to beat on me for an hour or so.  I limped to the table, hugging my
more damaged arm to my chest.

She shrugged. 
“Every time I attacked, you felt me coming before I leapt,” she said, smug at
knowing something I didn’t.  “Now you just need to practice that and know how
to use it to defend yourself.”

I realized with
a shock that she was right.  I had known when she was going to attack, even
with my eyes closed.  I just hadn’t known what to do when I felt her coming. 
With a nod in my direction she turned and jogged off toward the woods.  It
looked like lesson number one was over.

I limped into
the house, still pondering the night’s lesson.  Psychic powers… what the hell
was
I anyway?  The tangy scent of tomatoes and spices hit my nose as I entered
the house and the tension gradually slipped from me.  I changed my
grass-stained clothes and wiped antiseptic over my numerous cuts and scrapes
before joining Christian.  Then I told him about my beating over the best
homemade food I had ever tasted.

He laughed at me
as I imitated Camilla’s nasal voice, telling me all about her psychic
abilities.  He frowned apologetically. “She was leaning on my power,” he said
reluctantly.

I looked at him
in surprise.  “You’re psychic?”

He laughed. 
“Thank the Gods, no.”  He took another bite of pasta before continuing.  “I’m
kind of telepathic.  It’s a very rare ability in wolves.  It just so happens it
is stronger within my pack.  I communicate with them more easily.”  He
shrugged.  “Sometimes I can pick up on human thoughts or emotions, but not
easily.”

Apparently Camilla
could only project, not receive.  I looked at him questioningly, but he changed
the subject.  I wondered just what other little skills one gained after a
thousand years of life.  Did I really know him at all?

My days quickly
fell into routine.  I worked long hours at both my jobs during the day.  I
rarely ever took a night shift anymore thanks to my new enlightened outlook on
life.  When I was at home I spent the evenings with Ailis and Christian,
usually engaged in some sort of physical or mental training.  My tutors
continued to meet with me several times a week as well and I could actually
tell that I was making some improvements, though I still felt abused.  I was
now able to sense Camilla before she attacked and she had set me to dodging
Ailis, stating that vampires felt different than wolves.  I was also learning
some physical techniques to defend myself when I sensed an attack coming.  I
refused to practice using my powers to defend myself.  No matter how much
Dominic and the queen bitch Camilla tempted me.  There was no way I could
predict what would happen.  And I still had to wash my hands every time I
thought of the exploding vampire trick.

My lessons with
Dominic were progressing better than I had expected.  I was now able to break
from his control fairly easily during the beginning of our sessions, though I
still tended to fatigue over extended periods of time.  I had fallen into an
easy camaraderie with the eerie vampire, and we became friends as time passed,
though he still held himself at a distance. I couldn’t tell if it was because I
was just a lowly human, or if I really smelled that good.  Camilla was a harder
nut to crack, but I believed that there was an occasional thawing of the icy
barrier between us, and we were at least civil to each other.  Most of the
time.  She even laughed at my bad jokes once in a while.

One day, a
couple of months into my training, Dominic presented me with a new task.  I
somehow was able to sense when there was a vampire or werewolf near.  I had
been unconsciously avoiding my watchers long before I even knew they existed. 
He wanted to know if I could use my “locator” abilities on purpose, to find a
supernatural being.  He explained that this could be a very valuable tool in
catching rouges and other undesirables who shunned the rules designed to help
their kind fade into the background of human society.

I had managed to
forget that all of this training was for a purpose.  It wasn’t just to defend
myself, but to serve as a tool for someone else.  This was an uncomfortable
reminder of my position and it put my guard up.  After all, the more I learned,
the more valuable I became- the more desirable to Argenou and Henry.  Though
Ailis thought this was a good thing since it meant they wouldn’t want to kill
me if I was valuable, it scared the hell out of me.  I was afraid that one of
these days I was going to end up as a possession, no matter what I did.

We were outside
again and the last of the setting sun was shining on the little picnic table
that now served as my training center.  Dominic spread out an enlarged map of
the state, holding the corners down with river rocks.  He hiked up a folding
chair up next to my end of the table and flipped his blond curls out of his
eyes.  He had shed his suit jacket and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his
shirt in deference to the heat.

I don’t know why
he bothered, since he probably didn’t even feel the heat.  I wondered if it was
part of the mask to make himself look human.  Although he appeared delicate, he
was very well-built.  I noticed the smooth curves of his muscular chest,
exposed near the top of his open shirt, and felt my pulse speed up.  I pulled
my gaze from him with an effort and he chuckled softly.  I mentally berated
myself.  He was certainly eye candy, but this candy was poison-toxic.  Going
down that road was likely to be the end of my free will.  Besides, I was sort
of already taken.  Very taken.

I idly traced my
fingernail over a crease in the map and sighed.  I really didn’t think this was
going to work.  The whole idea of locating a person with your mind was absurd. 
I had said so to Dominic when he explained his idea, but as usual I had no say
in the matter.  He loved to experiment with my power.  He was one hundred
percent sure that whatever abilities I had would only get more powerful.  He
thought I was in an awakening stage, like some sort of supernatural puberty.  I
stuck out my bottom lip and blew a stray lock of hair out of my eyes.  He
treated me like I wasn’t even human at all.

“Alright,”
Dominic said, calling this meeting to order, “let’s get started.”  I rolled my
eyes at him and he continued.  “I have hidden a powerful supernatural creature
somewhere in the state.  You have to find him.  I am going to give you clues as
necessary until we find out what you need in order to do this.”